Madame Alice.
The Madame Alice is a small steel cargo steamer lying largely intact on a muddy seabed in the Firth of Lorn, about a mile off Ganavan Sands. She sank after a collision in 1918 and is a deep, dark and seldom-dived wreck. Old fishing nets and creels have been snagged on her, and volunteer divers removed much of the ghost net in 2019.
What's down there.
- Largely intact hull
- Collapsed bridge superstructure
- Silted forward hold
- Snagged fishing nets and creels
- Sea pens on the surrounding seabed
- Sea pens
- Squat lobsters
- Anemones
- Sea squirts
- Hydroid and bryozoan turf
Least depth about 32 m; seabed about 40–43 m.
Deep, dark dive with limited encrusting life. Hazards include depth, snagged fishing nets and silt stirred up by the tide. For experienced deep divers only. Visibility of about 6 m was recorded on one 2019 survey.
How it got there.
Built in 1904 by the Dublin Dockyard Company as the Bay Fisher and renamed Madame Alice in 1917; owned at her loss by T G Beatley and Son of London. About 51 m long (168.7 ft), 478 gross tons, with a two-cylinder compound steam engine. On passage from Fleetwood to Stornoway with a cargo of empty barrels, she collided near Oban with the steam yacht Iolaire, then on Admiralty duty, and sank in 1918. Her crew reached shore safely.
5 dives.
From the reconstructed log — the dates follow the pattern I dived, so read them as representative rather than exact.